He may have also exaggerated some parts of it. Not that she was exactly gentle with him, but you'd think she had been pulling his fingernails by the way Varric tells it at times. He's always had an annoying flair for the dramatic though, so she's not the least bit surprised by the comment. It doesn't stop her from shooting Isabela a look, however. She came in here to enjoy a drink in relative peace, not get more of the strange characters Varric knows delivering thinly veiled threats or lectures.

"How fortunate then that you have decided to be the bigger person," she says, dryly as she steps over to the bar and leans on it. She only has to wait a moment before she's given a cup full of ale. "I would say perhaps you ought to find yourself new friends, but I think it's Varric who should consider that."

Isabela's for-profit attitude has done nothing to win approval from Cassandra. The Inquisition shouldn't bother with people like her, in Cassandra's opinion, but they're in a dire and desperate situation. It's a necessary evil, so to speak.